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The Revenge Society
"The Revenge Society" is the 44th episode of The Venture Bros.. Plot The episode begins with the mysterious Highwayman-themed villain calling himself "Revenge" infiltrating the lair of the Guild of Calamitous Intent. During an inquisition held by the Guild's Council of 13 of the Intangible Fancy, Revenge unmasks, attacks and kidnaps two members of the Council, knocking out Councilman 3 and seriously injuring Councilman 8. The other Councilmen, unaware of where each of their chambers is situated, are helpless to stop Revenge from escaping. Revenge takes them to a secret hideout where they are operated on by another hostage - Master Billy Quizboy - and Revenge reveals himself to be a deranged Hamilton G. Fantomas, aka the former Phantom Limb, who has replaced his missing limbs with prosthetics and grown out his hair and mustache to resemble that of Samuel Clemens. Billy has been forced to work with Fantomas given their previous history together. Councilman 3 ('Red Mantle') awakens to discover that Fantomas has had the head of Councilman 8 ('Dragoon') sewn onto his shoulders in order to save 8's life, an agreement that neither of them are happy with. Recognizing Fantomas, the Councilmen become angry, but the villain tells them that he has information which will make them willingly help him. Meanwhile, the Guild's Sovereign (aka David Bowie) is informed by Watch and Ward that Revenge has not only kidnapped the Councilmen but also stolen their official Charter; he orders them to go into action. In Revenge's lair, the Councilmen are forced by Revenge to muddle over the Charter, which tells the history of the Guild, in order to disclose his grandfather's role in its origin (his grandfather being the original Fantomas, a co-founder of the Guild). Being the oldest members of the Council, they are readily able to disclose their stories of meeting the legendary Fantomas to Revenge and Billy. As impoverished musicians in 1959, the two were approached by an elderly Fantomas who claimed he was organizing a Rock and Roll orchestra. Accepting the offer of the legendary figure, they discovered that in fact he had merely kidnapped several musicians in order to obtain a backing group for his terrible sousaphone playing. In the present, Revenge is uninterested in his grandfather's musical failure, more concentrated on the Guild's relationship with the powerful Orb. In order to try and buy his freedom, Billy lets slip that he knows where the Orb is. At the compound itself, Sergeant Hatred - to the annoyance of Dr. Venture - has sunk back into his terrible depression due to continual rejection from Hank, locking himself in the bathroom and downing bottles of cologne for their alcohol content. Venture is momentarily distracted and leaves Dean to try and talk to him. While Dean succeeds in managing to calm Hatred down, Hank announces that the Guild's troops have gathered outside the compound in full force; assuming his military demeanor, Hatred - convinced that the Guild are after him for betraying their secrets to OSI - snaps out of his depression and immediately orders Dean and Dr. Venture to the panic room, saving Hank due to the situation being a potential opportunity to bond with the boy. As the Councilmen fight over their shared body, Revenge reveals his plan to storm the Venture compound and introduces the other members of the titular "Revenge Society": 'Wisdom' (a coffee mug with the word 'Wisdom' printed on its side), 'Chuck' (a small toaster), and 'Lady Nightshade' (a black Ferragamo heel shoe previously owned by Doctor Girlfriend). Concluding that he is totally insane, but will murder them if they don't co-operate, Billy & the Councilmen agree to help him storm the Venture compound. Unable to think of any defense against the mass army, Hank and Hatred have fun taunting the Guild's representatives via the compound's intercom, even managing to briefly convince them that they have the wrong compound. Meanwhile, in the panic room, Dr. Venture comforts a traumatized Dean and reassures him that they will live through this escapade as they had through many others; encouraged, Dean decides that they will find out what the Guild are after. As Revenge carries out his plan, the Sovereign sends in backup in the form of Brian Eno, Dean and Dr. Venture perform reconnaissance, and Sergeant Hatred races Hank on the boy's hoverbikes in the sewer system below the compound. Discerning that Hank has no plan and is merely doing whatever he wants without the controlling influence of his father, Hatred encourages Hank by telling him that he takes after his hero, Brock; they turn back and resume their attempts to save the compound. Carrying Billy into Doctor Venture's study, the Councilmen use 'Chuck' to knock out a guild blackout guard and retrieve the Orb, leaving the unconscious Billy on the floor in a sack. Meanwhile, from his perch above the compound, Revenge recalls that as the Sovereign, David Bowie is a shape-shifter and thus could be anyone; he destroys 'Wisdom' out of paranoid suspicion. In the compound, Dr. Venture and Dean encounter the actual Bowie, who asks for their help. Hank & Hatred return to the study, finding Billy unconscious in his sack; Hatred, believing Billy to be a small child, breaks down at the thought that the Guild are preying on his pedophiliac weakness in order to destroy him. Outside, the Councilmen are forced by Revenge to read out a manifesto stating that he will assume Guild leadership by right of birth. When the Guild try to kill him, he uses 'Lady Nightshade' as a boomerang-like defence. Bowie appears, and Revenge demands that the Guild be handed to 'its rightful heir', or he will use the Orb on them all; Bowie concurs, and hands the heraldic sword of the Guild to Dean Venture, bloodline descendant of the Guild's original founder, Colonel Lloyd Venture, whose position was usurped by Fantomas during the Guild's schism. Deciding to do the decent thing and get rid of the Guild, Dean officiates Bowie's position as Sovereign, making him the leader of the Guild on the Venture family's behalf. Incensed, Revenge prepares to unleash the power of the Orb. In a flashback, it is revealed that, contrary to what was implied in the 3rd-Season episode "ORB", Col. Venture was not executed by his bodyguard, Eugen Sandow, in order to prevent him from activating the Orb. Having a soft spot in his heart for the Colonel, Sandow instead broke the Orb irreparably, preventing its centuries of carefully-assembled art and science from ever being used. As thanks for saving his life, Venture promised to keep the incident quiet, and repaired the Orb, never revealing that it had been internally damaged. In the present, Revenge fails to achieve anything with the Orb, and collapses, defenseless, to be seized by the Guild. The Orb rolls away and is picked up by the merged Councilmen. In the post credits sequence, Billy Quizboy wakes up believing the entire thing to have been a horrible nightmare...only to discover that he is in bed with a relaxed Sgt. Hatred, having spent the night with him in his quarters. Anguished, Billy asks to be put back in his bag. Connections to other episodes *Phantom Limb's vehicle is a turquoise Honda Accord with a ghost painted on the hood, which he recalled using early in his career in "Victor. Echo. November.". *The episode is a sequel of sorts to "ORB", revealing some of the true fate of the Guild and its members following the schism that took place in that episode; the flashback to the Orb's destruction leads directly out of the flashback seen in "ORB", where Sandow claimed to have killed Lloyd Venture rather than reveal that the Orb had been neutralized. **When Revenge threatens to use the Orb, everyone except Dr. Venture is shocked, Thaddeus Venture himself remaining unimpressed; this would suggest that he knew that the Orb was useless, having tested it following the events of ORB, and that similarly his father, Dr. Jonas Venture, would have known it was useless and decided to simply hide it rather than reveal the truth. *The Council of 13 previously hold a trial/crucible similar to the one they held in "Shadowman 9: In the Cradle of Destiny". Whereas in that episode they are shown as obscured silhouettes, here two of them are unmasked and named. **Phantom Limb's last appearance previous to this episode was also in "Shadowman 9: in the Cradle of Destiny", which revealed that he had stopped shaving and built himself a prosthetic arm as well as having descended into insanity and vindictive paranoia. *Under the name Revenge, the Phantom Limb blackmails Billy Quizboy into working with him by citing their previous history together, as shown in flashback in "The Invisible Hand of Fate". It is revealed that, despite the attempts of White to prevent him from doing so during that episode, Billy is able to recall what happened between he and Limb. Later, Councilmen 3 & 8 point out that the idea of Billy having amnesia from one knock on the head, as "The Invisible Hand of Fate" implied he would, is entirely ridiculous. **In order to encourage Hank, Sgt. Hatred compares him to Brock Samson, citing his own previous work with Samson, who he claims impressed him. This previous experience was also shown in "The Invisible Hand of Fate", where as Samson's commanding officer he pretended to think Samson incapable, but as a secret member of the Guild feared Samson's capability and gave him the dead-end position as the Venture family's bodyguard to prevent him from exposing the Guild's existence to the world. *The Intangible Fancy is tried by the Guild for casually murdering two associates without Guild sanction. The character had previously appeared in cameo in episodes such as "Tag Sale - You're It!", and had one speaking part in "Fallen Arches". Cultural references *Brian Eno is shown to be working with the Guild alongside his friend David Bowie, as a negotiator; like Bowie, he appears in his youthful, 70s-era body and costume. He travels in several large aircraft called the Warm Jets, after his debut solo album; upon their approach, Guild members shout "Here Come The Warm Jets!". *Councilman 8 notices that a simple blow to the head is seemingly enough to knock out anyone; he compares this phenomenon to Gilligan's Island. *Councilman 8 and 3 are implied to be J.P. Richardson (The Big Bopper) and Buddy Holly. When they tell Revenge about their first meeting with his grandfather, Fantomas, they mention they were musicans about to take off in their private plane from Clear Lake, Iowa. They were apparently kidnapped by Fantomas on February 16, 1959 and declared dead to the rest of the world. In reality Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper were musicians' who died in a plane crash, February 3, 1959. This implies that the Venture Brothers universe is similar to, if not the same as, our own. *Councilman 8 declares that he "accidently" created hip-hop. *Revenge angrily calls Bowie "The Thin White Douche!", a reference to the pop-star's self-created title, the Thin White Duke. References Category:The Venture Bros. episodes